Written by

Sam Borden

Journal News columnist

It is as crazy a story as there is in this New York baseball season, a season where superstars have gotten hurt, also-rans have become rivals, managers have gotten fired in the middle of the night and the Yankees' farewell celebration to a storied old stadium is looking more and more like a funeral.

Unexpected and unlikely developments all of them, but none comes close to the story of Carlos Delgado, the first baseman everyone thought was done back in May but who now leads the Mets toward the postseason, leads himself toward a legitimate run at the National League MVP award.

I'm as guilty as anyone. Just before the Mets and Yankees met in the Subway Series in May, I wrote a column about the similarities between Delgado and Jason Giambi, two overpaid first basemen whose slugging days seemed long since gone; there was even a terrific drawing that went along with the piece, depicting both players riding on a subway car and reading a newspaper story headlined, "Power Outage at First Base."

It seemed absolutely fair at the time. Delgado was hitting .222 with five home runs and 17 RBI, and was slugging about 200 points below his career average. His bat seemed slow; his spirit seemed beaten; his attitude seemed bitter, and he clashed with Shea Stadium fans over refusing to come out for a curtain call on a rare night when he had a few hits.

Four months later, it is all different. Delgado seems to take a curtain call every night, be it for a crucial RBI single or another tape-measure home run, the kind that flies by the edge of the stadium in right field, dipping into the blackness of the parking lots beyond.

He has 24 homers and 69 RBI in the 68 games since June 27. He has 12 homers and 34 RBI since the Mets lost closer Billy Wagner. He has five homers and 11 RBI in the last 10 games, a crucial stretch that leaves the Mets with a 3 1/2 - game lead in the NL East with 17 to go.

The MVP question is (amazingly) a fair one. Debates about what "valuable" truly means arise every year, but in a team sport like baseball, pure numbers (like the ones listed in the paragraph above) are not the only determining factor. They can't be. Short of an incredible, blow-you-away kind of output, a candidate's statistics must always be viewed in the context of the team they help, if only because baseball's ultimate measuring stick is team wins and losses. Can Delgado really be an honest MVP candidate after a woeful first few months? In a team sport, he absolutely can.

St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols' year-long numbers are unmatched (.362 batting average, 33 homers, 99 RBI, 1.122 OPS), but the Cardinals will likely miss the playoffs. If they do make it, Pujols should win the MVP. But if they don't, and the Mets do and Delgado continues to hit well over the final few weeks, than he is as deserving as anyone.

Houston's Lance Berkman has had a fantastic year. The Phillies' Ryan Howard is the home-run leader once again. And Los Angeles' Andre Ethier probably deserves more discussion than he's received, considering his post All-Star Game production (.331, nine HR, 30 RBI, 1.032 OPS) as the Dodgers took control of the woeful NL West.

Delgado has meant more to his team than all of them, at least in the months that count most. That sentiment runs contrary to the notion that all games, all at-bats and all pitches are equal throughout a season, a notion that while statistically true, still fails the reality test. Life does not exist in a vacuum. Everything has unique context, and Delgado's late surge has been more important to the Mets' rise than his early slump was to their fall.

One of the issues that potential MVP candidates on the Yankees used to have was the question of whether they were even the most valuable player on their own team. However excellent Bernie Williams or Derek Jeter was in a particular year, there was always the question of whether Mariano Rivera was more valuable to the Yankees' success. With Delgado, that concern is less relevant. His hitting over the past few months has made up for injuries to Wagner, decreased production from David Wright with runners in scoring position and an erratic bullpen. He has won games, tied games and set records with his bat, and he has done it without much outward vengeance toward those who doubted him.

"I don't have to prove anybody wrong," he said recently when asked about the booing he endured earlier this year. "Fans are entitled to do what they want to do. I was the guy hitting .220."

He isn't anymore, isn't close to being done. The playoffs are looming and so too is the balloting for the NL MVP.

I was wrong about Delgado. Everyone was, and it is as crazy a story as anything: A guy who was written off four months ago now deserves to be written in.